Bluffton Self Help founder dies at 86

U.S. President Barack Obama presents Ida Martin, Bluffton Self Help founder, with a 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal during a ceremony at the East Room of the White House October 20, 2011 in Washington, DC.

Jessicah Peters/Bluffton Today Without the dedication from Ida Martin, Bluffton Self Help would not be the organization it is today. Martin died June 12. The nonprofit displayed flowers and photos in memory of Martin.

Bluffton Self Help founder Ida Martin, 86, died Tuesday at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in the company of her husband Jacob and other family members.

In 1987, Bluffton resident Martin recognized a need not being met for working families and senior citizens in the area. She began Bluffton Self Help, which was chartered a year later in October of 1988.

Martin is a Savannah native whose family is from White Hall in Colleton County. In 1979, she moved to the hometown of her husband, Jacob Martin, after his retirement as a Detroit police officer. She began providing food and clothes to those in need from her car trunk and garage. With others help, the nonprofit Bluffton Self Help was born to help working families and senior citizens in need of food and other emergency assistance.

The facility offers food distribution five times a week, clothing distribution Monday through Friday and three interview rooms for providing financial assistance to qualified Bluffton residents facing a financial emergency.

Martin will be honored by her family and friends Thursday with a public viewing and “home going ceremony” to be held at Campbell Chapel AME Church in Old Town Bluffton.

The viewing will be from 9-11 a.m. and the “home going ceremony” will be from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Martin was recognized as an American civilian hero at a White House ceremony in 2011. The nation’s second-highest civilian honor recognizes Americans who perform “exemplary deeds of service.”

President Barack Obama embraced Martin with his right hand around her back. When he handed her the medal, which rested in a box, she reached up and hugged him and he hugged her back. She was applauded while another military aide escorted her back to her seat on the stage.

In 2010 alone, Bluffton Self Help provided food to 11,600 people and clothing to almost 9,000 people. Bluffton Self Help also provided families with short-term emergency financial assistance toward housing and utility assistance, medical assistance, or children’s program assistance. The nonprofit serves about 25,000 people annually now as it transitioned to the new building in Sheridan Park circle.